Hanging On
by Actrez
Summary: Alice POV-Alice follows Vaughn to find out what is really going on with him and confirms the truth she didn't want confirmed.


Hanging On  
  
By: Actrez  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own them, never will, I'm merely borrowing them for my own entertainment. They belong to J.J. Abrams and all those people. Please don't sue, I have nothing.  
  
Rating: G  
  
Category/Genre: Alice POV; allusion to Sydney/Vaughn  
  
Spoilers: A Broken Heart  
  
Summary: Some people have done Vaughn POV where he thinks about Alice and that got me thinking-what is going through her head about Vaughn? So I'm using my story to answer that question : )  
  
  
  
You're sitting in some Italian restaruant eating dinner and he gets a phone call in the middle of your description of your day. He throws you an apologetic look before putting the cell phone to his ear. "Vaughn," he answers gruffly. That's something you've never understood, why doesn't he just say 'hello' like the rest of the world does?  
  
His face quickly softens as he listens to the voice on the other end and you know he'll have to leave. You know he'll tell you its work and he's really sorry, just like always. And you'll smile and say you understand and then be left at the table alone, just like always.  
  
"I'll be right there," he says, but his voice is softer than it was when he picked up the phone, gentler. He hangs up and looks at you, the same apologetic look he always gives you, "That was work, they need me to come in," you're not sure if he really expects you to believe that or not but you smile and nod with understanding like you always do. "I'll call you," he promises, and he will-he won't tell you what he did when he got called into work-but he'll call. He stands up and gives you a quick kiss but you can tell his mind is already on something else-on 'work'.  
  
You sit there for a few minutes knowing what you want to do, but knowing you shouldn't. You'll only see something you'll wish you hadn't-but you get up and grab your purse anyways. Ignoring your brain that's screaming at you to stop, to turn around and finish your dinner. But your feet keep moving and they don't stop till you're at your car and already climbing into the drivers seat.  
  
You follow his car to the peir as your brain continues to scream at you to turn around. But you can't. This has been going on too long and you need to know the truth. So you get out and follow a couple of feet behind him. He walks over to look out over the edge of the water. There's a girl standing next to him, her shoulders are shaking and it's obvious she's crying. She turns to look at him and even from where you're standing you can see the care and concern in his eyes as she starts to speak, looking out at the water again.  
  
You walk a little closer so you can hear their conversation. "My father and I were supposed to have dinner tonight," she tells him as she cries and you can tell by his posture that he wants to reach out and hold her-but something holds him back.  
  
Tears fill your eyes because now you know. All the times he had to go into 'work' at some un-Godly hour of the day, he was with her. And it hurts, it hurts so much you can hardly breathe. But you're not surprised, because you've known. You've known he's always been looking for something more. Something different. And you've always known that that something he was looking for was never you. But you had always hoped that maybe, one day, you could be that something. But now you know you can't because the girl who's crying is that something he's been looking for.  
  
"Sydney," he says softly, in a way he's never talked to you. Now she has a name, this woman who stole the only man you've ever loved, Sydney. And you wonder if he ever really believed that he loved you. All those times he said those three words, did he ever really mean them?  
  
The girl, Sydney, grabs something from her purse and throws it into the ocean. "You just threw your beeper in the Pacific," he tells her and she laughs and you can see the happiness in his eyes because he got her to laugh.  
  
He starts talking to her again but you back away because you can't handle listening to anymore. Your tears start to fall because you know it's over. He's found his something else. And you've been hanging on to a dream for too long. 


End file.
